


The Grinch isn't purple

by Sherr



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Study, Christmas, Fluff, M/M, Sendak is a good boyfriend, english is not my first language, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 02:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17133365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherr/pseuds/Sherr
Summary: Sendak doesn't understand Christmas, but he was going to try for Shiro's sake.





	The Grinch isn't purple

The smell of air conditioner and gift wrap was the first thing to attack his nostrils when the automatic door opened, making him wrinkle his nose immediately. He tended to forget how strong the smell was, and it was something good for him; he didn't want this smell to fill his dreams. It was most unpleasant.  
Shiro didn't seem affected by this, though, and instead looked at the list on his hand, taking off his gloves so he could maneuver the piece of paper better. Sendak knew that Shiro had the list memorized by now, on alphabetic order even, but didn't say anything about it and instead shifted on his feet, cracking his neck loudly. A kid next to them flinched, and Sendak laughed mentally.

Hah, scaredy cats.

"Okay, we're going for clothes first, then decorations. Can you carry the tree?" Shiro was still looking at his list, and was even looking up for the better stores. He just wanted to sleep, winter made him sleepy.

"Don't I always carry the tree?" Sendak yawned, and people stared at him. Eh, their problem.

"Right. Follow me then."

People weren't used to see an eight feet alien walk along on public spaces, not matter how many times it happened now. It wasn't like he was the only alien on the planet, either, so Sendak wasn't going to beat himself up for the sake of their convenience.  
He wasn't mating any of those people. If anyone was going to give him shit for being free that's Shiro, and Shiro wasn't a douchebag.

Christmas was usually a celebration they spent together, decorating the outside of the house almost professionally and setting up a big tree on their living room, that would always get donated to a shelter for next year. Sendak himself didn't see any purpose on celebrating it, but Shiro was always happy on Christmas, so small sacrifices were meant to take place.  
Something he didn't enjoyed, though, was the Christmas shopping.

The weather was something that he signed up for when he moved to the planet.

He didn't understand why they couldn't just shop online and wait for the packages to arrive. It was easier and more convenient. He didn't enjoy talking to people, and people didn't enjoy talking to him. There was a mutual understanding there.  
But for some reason Shiro preferred to walk for three hours around a mall, and it wasn't like he had an election on whether he wanted to go or not.

As he stated before, he always carried the tree.

He hated to be in public. He wasn't an Altean, able to blend in with make-up and a beanie. He was a Galra. A big, furry Galra that also had a prosthetic arm and a prosthetic eye. His whole body was meant to be intimidating, to stand up, and to hide himself would be an insult to his pride.  
But everything stated, he hated to be in public.  
Humans had a sin, and that sin was to be overly curious when they weren't asked to be. They looked at him like he was some exhibition to be marveled at, some of them having the nerve to take photos of him when they thought he wasn't looking– the poor fools apparently didn't know his ears weren't that big just for the aesthetic. The rude ones would poke at him or touch his fur without his permission –something Galrans considered a big insult for their mates, and Shiro did seem bothered by it–, the polite ones would ask what is it like to be a Galra, sometimes asking to take a photo of him.

And Sendak was just so, _so_ , tired of the human race.

It isn't as if Sendak had a friendly face. He had what Lance called a resting bitch face, so he didn't understand why so many people approached him and tried to talk to him. He wasn't that talkative, either, not in public, so it just made less and less sense.  
But humans weren't creatures with common sense. That much he gathered.

Sendak looked at Shiro, resisting the urge to yawn again, and cursed the fact that he wasn't taller. He wanted to lean against him on his laziness, but that would be a bad idea. Instead, he just laid his hand on his mate's shoulder, earning him a smile from Shiro.  
But then he opened his mouth, stating everything they needed to buy and how much money they would spend between this and the Christmas dinner. Sendak wasn't good calculating human currency.

Sendak wanted to crawl back on his bed and don't come out until winter was over. 

* * *

Shiro's friends always gathered on Christmas. 

They would reunite on the house of one of them, and open presents from their Secret Santa in the middle of laughs and chattering. This year was Shiro and Sendak's turn to host the gathering, and that's why they moved around the furniture so there was space on the living room for their games. Sendak was constantly bothered by this, the different organization getting on his nerves, but he knew that it would be just for a couple of hours.

When the first person knocked on the door Sendak knew what to do.  
He locked himself in their room, refusing to come out.

Sendak never was someone social or easygoing. People tended to tense up when he was around, sometimes preferring to not address him in the fear of offending him on some ways, and that tended to dampen the mood of whatever it was what they did.  
This was Shiro's celebration, not his. He didn't see any issue on not participating.

Shiro, however, always seemed upset when Sendak isolated himself from socializing with his friends.

Sendak ignored it, for the sake of his own declining sanity.  
He didn't want to socialize with people that would eventually just shut themselves up because he was on the same room as them. It happened the first time they saw each other –when Lance made the 'resting bitch face' comment, and immediately paled at the recognition of his own words–, and he wasn't in the mood for repeating the occasion.

Shiro knocked at his door, and Sendak's ears perked up at that.

"Baby, can I come in?" Sendak made a face at the 'baby', but nonetheless grunted an affirmative noise. The door opened and his mate came in, hot cocoa on his hands. He had two mugs.

"Shiro. Is something the matter?"

The human entered the room, closing the door with his back. It now occurred to him that he didn't knew how he opened the door with both of his hands occupied, but he wasn't about to make that the subject of the conversation.  
Shiro always did amazing things, anyways.

"I don't like that you always lock yourself in here." Shiro approached him and handed him one of the mugs, which he took without a problem. His mate sat besides him on the bed, resting his head on Sendak's organic arm. "You know that you can go to the living room, right?"

"I don't want to ruin your celebration." Sendak's ears twitched a little, and Shiro started to scratch slightly behind one of them. His purring started immediately.

"You're not going to ruin anything, silly." When Shiro looked up at him he had a smile on his face, smile that rapidly died when he noticed Sendak's expression. Sendak's serious, almost depressing expression. "Oh my God, you _really_ think that you're going to ruin Christmas if you're with me, aren't you?"

When Sendak didn't answer Shiro put his mug on the nightstand, and Sendak followed. It was the right decision, seeing as Shiro was now sitting on his lap, looking at him with a lot of determination on his face.  
Oh, no. That was bad.

He never said no to determination and Shiro knew this.  
God damn it, Shiro.

"Sendak, you're not going to ruin Christmas. You aren't a Grinch, no matter how many times Lance and Pidge say it."

"They say I'm a Grinch?" Sendak inquired, rather curious. He knew what a Grinch was, and he didn't know why he was being compared to one.  
He wasn't green.

"Yes, but that's not the point! The point is that you can go with me and stay with my friends, I'm sure they're not going to mind. You're my boyfriend!"

Sendak frowned, almost giving up when Shiro started to ruffle the fur on his neck. Only Shiro was allowed to do that, the neck was a sensitive area and one someone could easily target on an attack.  
He knew he wasn't in danger.

"What has you this worked up?" But Shiro, being him, would always ask what the issue was. He always wanted to know, and wanted to figure out a solution to whatever the problem was. Because he was caring like that.

Sendak loved it.

And because Sendak loved Shiro, he told him. He told him why he never went with him when he was going out with his friends. He told him why he always locked himself up when they came home.  
He told him, confiding on Shiro and only Shiro, that he didn't want to damage his friendships, because he knew how wary people were of aliens and people that fraternized with aliens. He didn't want to be the reason of Shiro losing his friends, or make him chose between him and them.  
Because he trusted on Shiro.

Shiro, in his extended wisdom about human relationships, listened to his concerns and went to talk to his friends. And after five minutes he came back, and practically dragged him into the living room, where they just paused a game of Uno to look at him. They quickly lost interest, however, and went back to their game, raised voices replacing the silence soon enough.

And when Sendak went to seat himself besides Shiro, they didn't flinch nor did they become more careful of their movement. They continued to play the game, and when Hunk declared himself victorious, they even invited him for the next round.

Sendak didn't understand humans, but he played nonetheless.  
And he enjoyed to be around them.

* * *

Two hours after Christmas Eve ended Shiro's friends –and now his friends, as Pidge declared without giving him a chance to deny it– left, after helping them clean a little the living room. 

They were alone, and Shiro was clearly tired, so he finished cleaning and joined him on bed shortly after, being immediately used as a pillow.  
He wasn't complaining. 

"I had fun today." Shiro's words were slightly slurred, and Sendak didn't know if it was a product of his tiredness or if it was the eggnog finally kicking in. Shiro had low alcohol tolerance, after all.

"I... will admit that I had fun too." Sendak confessed, and the happy noise that came from Shiro had him smiling. Perhaps he _was_ whipped, a term he learned today. He knew they were making fun of him for being always obedient with Shiro, but he saw no problem on it.  
Humans were weird. 

"See? I told you you weren't going to ruin Christmas."

Shiro gave him a short kiss, and fell asleep shortly after. Sendak wrapped his arm around him, and looked at the ceiling.   
He still disliked humans. He still saw no reason on celebrating a day that was more commercial than sentimental. He still hated to be in public.   
But Shiro made those situations highly enjoyable. He always knew what to say or do to make Sendak go with him to situations he alone wouldn't face willingly. 

Gods, he was smitten. 

Sendak saw the sleeping face of his partner, and kissed his forehead.   
He was already going beyond his normal reasoning, there was no reason to not go a little further.   
With Shiro by his side, he could do anything. 

Perhaps even more.

**Author's Note:**

> And then Sendak asked Shiro to marry him, because he knows that's important on human relationships and he wants to spend the rest of his life with him.  
> However, he still hates to go in public. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this! It's a little self gift for Christmas (lol), and I just wanted Sendak being smitten towards Shiro.  
> I'm not sorry at all. 
> 
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!


End file.
